Oh my childrens...

First day of class was today. Well, first day I've had to teach. I love to teach.

From back in my days on the ICSP I remember very distinctively that even after four years in the program I'd be nervous about presentations before them. It always went away as soon as I started talking, though. The same kind of thing happened today. I had been a bit nervous about teaching here since last week. Mostly because these kids (or their parents, rather) drop $45k or so per year in tuition. That better buy them a knowledgeable TA who can teach them a thing or two. And although I've had plenty of TA experience in the past, I was shaking to my boots.

The lab was just groovy. I like the kids in the class a lot. They are mostly engineering majors which means that, unlike most of the pre-meds that I've normally taught in labs like these, they are not offended when the answer to a question is "well...let's think about this". Of course that's never all I say! I was pleasantly surprised by their willingness to think about things and work them out for themselves. I guess I shouldn't be too pleasantly surprised by their abilities until I grade their labs, though. Still, the lab went fine and that's all I really needed today.

Now I just need little phrase to finish this post...oh wait...cool!